Today I’m sharing another recipe from my TV show “Kanta’s Kitchen” – Chicken Tacos and Fresh Guacamole.  This is actually one of my favourite recipes of all time. Chicken Tacos are great for any meal and occasion.  I particularly love serving these when I have friends over for ‘games night’ or for a chilled out evening. They are filling without being too heavy, they are delicious and they are really quick and easy to make.  With a few simple ingredients, you too can enjoy this Mexican dish for your next meal.  For more recipes like this tune into “Kanta’s Kitchen” on Zambezi Magic, DStv channel 160.

Cooking Time:  25 mins

Serves 6

Ingredients

• Taco shells
• 900g chicken, diced (with or without skin on)
• 3 Avocados
• 3 Limes
• 1 bunch of spring onions
• Sour cream
• 500g Tomatoes, chopped
• 500g Onions, chopped
• 250g Cheddar cheese
• 250g Coriander
• Garlic powder
• Salt
• Paprika
• Pepper
• Vegetable oil

Method

Dice the chicken and season it to taste, with – paprika, salt, garlic and pepper.  Mix well.

On a medium heat, heat up the oil in a pan.  Roughly cut up your coriander.  Cook half of the onions until they become translucent, and then add coriander and half of the tomatoes – cook for about 2 minutes.  Add your chicken and mix well, cook until the chicken is white on the inside.

Whilst the chicken cooks, prepare the taco shells according to the packet instructions.  For the oven bake taco shells that I used, I cooked them in the oven at 200 degrees C for 10 minutes.

Check that the chicken is cooked and if it is set it aside.  Then prepare the guacamole.  Cut your avocados in half, remove the seed and then scoop out the flesh into a medium – large bowl.  Add the remaining half of your onions and tomatoes, add spring onions, coriander, salt and pepper to taste, and lastly add a squeeze of lime.  Mash the mixture together until nice and smooth. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

Once the chicken and taco shells are cooked, plate up your tacos.

Serve

In each taco add the chicken first, followed by a layer of cheddar cheese, then a teaspoon of sour cream and lastly the guacamole.  Serve your tacos hot and enjoy.

Reach Kanta via her website and social media:

http://www.kantaskitchen.com/

http://www.twitter.com/Kantas_Kitchen

http://www.facebook.com/KantasKitchen

The newly tarred Luangwa D145 main road connecting the District to the Great Road has developed serious cracks posing a threat that the District might be cut off from the rest of the country and also posing a danger to motorists.

Luangwa District council Chairman, Austin Bota and some members of the District Joint Security Committee who visited the damaged portion which is about 5KM from the Great East Road on the D145 Luangwa main road in Mankhokwe ward this afternoon where surprised at the damage done on the road which has left only one lane passable.

Mr Bota could not believe the damage done on the road fearing that the District might be cut off from the Great East road.

He appealed to the Roads Development Agency (RDA) to quickly come and access the damage and the cause, as what has caused the cracking and making the road to bulge cannot be explained.

The Council Chairman further expressed concern that the damage which seem to be expanding to the other lane that the District might be cut off from the rest of the country and this might affect the provision of service delivery to the area.

One motorist with a Dangote truck carrying cement to the Boma 79Km from the Great road had to turn back for fear of adding more damage to the road.

The cracks which started very small in the early hours of today had developed to big cracks by noon and there is fear that they will extend to the remaining lane.

Locals living near the affected area told the Council Chairman that the cracks which were noticed after heavy rains which hit the area are expanding almost every hour and also expressed concern at the falling rocks from a hill near the road which have rolled on the road.

Meanwhile Luangwa Police Officer In – Charge, Assistant Superintendent, Muleta Mataa has called on police officers at Luangwa Bridge and Chitope to monitor the spot and guide motorists to avoid accidents.

And RDA director -communications and corporate affairs Loyce Saili has confirmed to ZNBC news that the agency has dispatched a team of engineers to access the damage .

Mrs. Saili says the damaged has been occasioned at approximately 4 kilometers from the junction of Great East road.

The agency has advised road users travelling to and from Feira not to use the road as their safety cannot be guaranteed because the structural integrity of the road has been compromised.

Mrs. Saili says the agency has instructed the contractor China Geo to mobilise to site to help in remedy the situation.

The agency will be able to give a comprehensive statement on the extent of the damage to the road today and the possible intervention required to fix the damaged section.

Minister of Finance Felix Mutati says government will continue to engage stakeholders in the agriculture sector for a win-win situation as it seeks to diversify the economy.

Speaking during a consultative meeting in Lusaka, Mr Mutati said the government is keen to deal with the sector’s problems for real growth to be attained.

Mr. Mutati said the government can only collect revenue from a thriving agriculture sector.

The Minister of Finance was flanked in the meeting by Minister of Agriculture Dora Siliya and Minister of Commerce Margaret Mwanakatwe.

Mrs. Mwanakatwe and Ms Siliya voiced government’s interest to grow the sector which promises to create millions of jobs.

The three ministers met senior officials from the Tobacco Association of Zambia and Poultry Association of Zambia.

And Poultry Association of Zambia vice-chairperson Veronica Machungwa raised concern over the continued importation of chickens onto the Zambian market.

Ms Machungwa called on government to urgently deal with the situation.

At the same function, Tobacco Association of Zambia consultant Phonto Mumbi called on government to give the sector a standard tax system.

An innovative new solar kiosk system is set to empower small-scale retailers, particularly women, in rural areas where renewable energy holds the key to providing a low-cost alternative source of power to communities.
Zambian Breweries has taken delivery of the first three units of the new retail distribution points, which will use the sun’s rays to keep supplies of Castle Lite premium lager extra cold in those ‘off-grid’ regions of Zambia where electricity might not be immediately to hand.
Solar kiosks have been quietly arriving in Zambia, and are designed to tap into the sun’s rays via special panels on the roof. The energy from the sun keeps bottles and cans of Zambian’s popular beer cold and refreshing.
The move is in line with the government’s policy of encouraging additional renewable energy supply – including solar generation – in order to meet the current power deficit and work towards universal electricity access by 2030.
The three environmentally-sustainable and user-friendly solar kiosks – also known as E-HUBBs – came from Germany. They will be set up in February at three locations: in Luangwa village in Lusaka Province, Kasamba in Southern Province, and Mamvule village, near Mumbwa in Central Province.

Castle Lite is the lead brand for the innovation, although other Zambian Breweries drinks will also be sold from the kiosks.
“Our Dream is to bring people together for a better world,” said Zambian Breweries Marketing Manager, Nomonde Donsa. “We are committed to not only empowering retailers for our products but also in the use of renewable energy. We believe these solar kiosks will greatly help in that aim, especially in those areas that do not have a reliable electricity supply. The solar kiosks are bringing a low-cost and alternative source of energy to communities.”
The solar kiosks had come at the right time and would benefit those areas where there was limited electricity supply, she added. “We hope the solar kiosks will help generate more awareness of Castle Lite, especially in the areas where they will be launched. It is our wish that consumers of our products get the very best Extra Cold product experience.”
Zambia has an average 2,000-3,000 hours of sunshine per year yet only some 3 percent of the population in rural areas has access to electricity, according to the Rural Electrification Authority (REA).

Zambia’s youngest commercial pilot, Besa Mumba, is now six months into her job with Proflight Zambia and has already clocked up 300 flying hours as well as proving an inspiration to young women and men across the country.
Besa Mumba came on board last year, after completing her training in Pretoria, South Africa, at the renowned SIMU Flight School. Now the 20-year-old is a fully-qualified pilot working full-time with Proflight Zambia, based in Lusaka.
She has already been back to her old high school, St Mary’s, to extol the virtues of being a female pilot in a former man’s world, and is looking forward to visiting more schools to tell eager young listeners just what flying a plane as a career really involves.
“A lot of people reach out to me and say they are inspired by my story,” she says. “They say that it is encouraging to the nation. This touches me and every day I am grateful to know that people can draw inspiration from me and my career path,” she said.
Besa decided to become a pilot four years ago, and since then has not looked back, having notched up over 300 flight hours as a First Officer on the Cessna Caravan aircraft where much of her day is spent.
“I enjoy being in the sky all the time,” says Besa. “My colleagues at work today look at me as any other pilot or member of staff. It has been a really worthwhile career for me. Of course, the career itself has its own challenges but overall I am happy that this is the path I chose because this is my passion and where my passion lies, my heart lies.”
Besa clearly has no regrets about her career path. “I am very happy to have the opportunity to fly for my home country. It’s satisfying and motivating to do something for the people around you, and knowing that you help build a better Zambia through your work is very fulfilling.”
She describes the experience of flying as spectacular: “I really love my work as a pilot. It has taken me far away and shown me many places around Zambia. I have been flying as First Officer pilot to Lower Zambezi, Kasama, Livingstone, Mfuwe and Ndola, with most of my frequent flights being along the Lusaka-to-Lower Zambezi route.”
Returning to her old school has been one of the highlights of her career. “It felt so thrilling to look back where I come from and know how I could make such a big difference by going back, to inspire others to do better as well. I am always humbled to know that I could make a difference in the lives of so many young people.”
Besa feels that as a female pilot in a traditionally male environment, her journey has only just begun. She continues to look forward to climbing her way up to the dizzy heights of captain and one day flying some of the company’s larger aircraft.
“It’s not about gender, about being male or female – everything is for everyone. We have equal opportunities,” she says. “I would like to reach a thousand hours by the end of 2017. It will be a great achievement for me, indicating my hard work. As you know, the pilot’s experience is measured by the number hours flown.”
Besa is particular excited about some of the new routes opening up on Proflight’s timetable. “I am very happy with the opening of the new routes from Ndola to Solwezi and Kasama, as they indicate growth in the work we do as an airline.”
Besa looks forward to flying to more places around Africa and beyond, as her career progresses.

The Agriculture Minister Dr George Chaponda has opened up about his involvement in the suspicious procurement of the Zambia maize deal saying the order came from President Peter Mutharika.

Chaponda said this during a recorded program ‘Tiwuzeni Zowona’ on Zodiack broadcasting station on Sunday.

According to the minister, Professor Mutharika was the one who ordered him to join ADMARC team to Zambia as a special envoy.

“I went there because the President asked me to go as a special envoy. This was because the deal was government to government and that ADMARC was or is not mandated to directly talk to the Zambia or any foreign Minister of Agriculture especially when having such kind of deal,” said Chaponda.

He rubbished allegation that he played a suspicious game in the procurement of maize saying he is innocent and fears nothing.
The Agriculture Minister also attacked some media houses for being used by his opponents to destroy his name and political career.

“I know the media houses and names of people who wanted to ruin me. They thought this will be my end but they have failed,” added the Chaponda.

He said if the nation wants to know things concerning the financial matters in the whole process of procuring maize from Zambia, they should verify with the ministry of finance.

“I was there for policy issues and not finance, but if you want that ask the ministry of finance,” he argued.

On Saturday, the commission of inquiry in the Zambia maize-gate scam asked President Mutharika to investigate the agriculture minister saying his deal with the Trans Globe company was inappropriate, suspicious and raised issues of corrupt practices.

Statement on the confirmation of corrupt practices and fraud by Zambian and Malawian government officials in the US$34.5 million MAIZEGATE scandal by the Commission of Inquiry in Malawi

We in the United Progressive People (UPP) are pleased to note that the Commission of Inquiry into the Zambia-Malawi maize exportation saga presented its report to His Excellency Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika, the President of Malawi yesterday and all that we said from the very beginning has turned out to be accurate.

We are very sad to observe that President Edgar C. Lungu has embarrassed himself to the world by publicly lying to the people of Zambia on the deal. Upon his return from Ethiopia, our President told Zambians that he met with President Mutharika who reportedly briefed him that there was no corruption in the transaction.

UPP advised Zambians to treat President Edgar C. Lungu’s statement as state propaganda styled in the old Nazi Regime which appointed an expert liar, Joseph Goebbels, as Minister of Propaganda. He believed that a lie repeated three times would be accepted by the people as the truth.

We are afraid that this approach to politics and the handling of public affairs will not work for the MMD run PF Government predominantly because this generation lives in an information age in which everyone can access information easily. The NAZI regime of Adolf Hitler lived in an era of brick and mortar. The people of Zambia cannot be fooled by the smear campaign that the PF regime has mounted against the UPP leadership.

The report of the Commission of Inquiry, which was presented to President Arthur P. Mutharika yesterday confirms the following:

1. The role of Hon. Dr. George Chaponda the Minister of Agriculture Irrigation and Water Development went beyond his mandate by interfering with the procurement process (this is the man who met with our own president over the deal). The Minister influenced who should supply maize to ADMARC under the “ZCF contract” (page 15 and 16);

2. The Minister personally asked ADMARC to buy maize from Transglobe Ltd with maize stocks in Chipata (The PF Government flagged off the distribution of maize from Chipata to Malawi purporting it was a Government-to-Government deal). ADMARC refused to carry out the directives, but the Minister advised Transglobe to meet with officials in the Ministry of Agriculture to negotiate an export permit to supply part of the 100, 000 MT of maize that was agreed in the “contract” between ADMARC and ZCF page 16 and 17);

3. Transglobe directly dealt with Zambia’s Ministry of Agriculture through their agent Zdenakie Commodities. In a letter dated 26th October 2016, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture wrote a letter directly to the Managing Director of Transglobe Ltd in Malawi informing him that Government had agreed that 50, 000 MT of maize would be exported to Malawi in the name of Transglobe (page 17 and 18);

4. A letter confirming this arrangement was written by Transglobe to the Ministry of Agriculture on 12th December, 2016 (page 18);

5. Transglobe Ltd would be paid under the same Letter of Agreement which was in favour of ZCF (page 18);

6. When Hon. George Chaponda was in Zambia as special envoy, Mr. Tayub of Transglobe was also in the country meeting with officials in the Ministry of Agriculture. Two things happened during this period of meetings as follows:

(i) The export ban was lifted; and

(ii) The Ministry of Agriculture issued two export licences to both ZCF and Transglobe splitting the contract tonnage of 100, 000 MT in equal share of 50, 000 MT.

7. The addendum signed by ADMARC and Kaloswe brought ZCF into the tripartite agreement assigning proceeds under the agreement to ZCF and as such the letter of credit was established in favour of ZCF on 26th July 2016. (page 31) ;

8. ADMARC terminated the agreement with Kaloswe on 11th October, 2016. “The commission was not satisfied with the reasons given for terminating the Kaloswe contract”. The Commission found the conduct of ADMARC and ZCF in this regard in bad faith, most unprofessional and liable to expose ADMARC and ultimately the Government to a civil suit” (page 32);

9. The contract between ADMARC and ZCF is dated 17th June 2016 (the same date that Kalowe and ADMARC signed a contract). This agreement was signed after that Letter of Credit had already been issued in favour of ZCF. “The commission concluded that the contract (between ZCF and ADMARC) was backdated, a fact which was also confirmed by ZCF…the commission concludes that this contract can be challenged on account of fraud…” (page 32 and 33);

10. Following the lifting of the export ban by Zambia, ZCF entered into a contract with Transglobe to supply 50, 000 MT of maize to ADMARC on their behalf at a price of USD$337.50 per MT (page 35);

The Commission has made several recommendations including the action against the entire management of ADMARC, but the key one of particular interest to Zambia is thus, “The dealings between the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Dr. George Chaponda M.P., [and others] in this procurement process should be further investigated by the ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau) as the manner in which Transglobe obtained an export permit from the Ministry of Agriculture of Zambia to supply maize to ADMARC raises suspicion”

Hon, Dora Siliya misled Zambians when she said that the Zambian Government’s role only ended at issuing permits. Our evidence and the report of the Commission show that our own government was directly involved in the illegal contract with Transglobe and the subsequent issuance of an export permit. The meetings between Hon. Chaponda and President Edgar C. Lungu were meant to seal all these corrupt dealings from the Zambian side. The broker Zambian company Zdenakie Commodities Ltd must also be investigated.

It takes two to tangle. The Minister of Agriculture in Malawi did only have direct dealings with President Edgar C. Lungu, but also with Hon. Dora Siliya the Minister of Agriculture.

The report confirms what we have been saying that the new contract between ZCF and Transglobe was not only forged and backdated, but also fraudulent. We are fully aware of all the attempts to cover up the mess ever since we made the saga public, but it’s too late because we had gathered enough documentary and audio evidence on all the dealings before alerting the people of Zambia in 2016.

As observed by the Commission that the lifting of the ban and the immediate execution of two new contracts as well as the issuance of permits to Transglobe and ZCF was questionable, we in the UPP believe that these were acts of abuses of office of authority. The report concludes, “this development cannot be attributed to coincidence”

The imposition of the ban was done when President Edgar C. Lungu and Her Honour the Vice President Ms. Inonge Wina were the only ones in Government at policy level. The ban was meant to facilitate the new deals which were birthed in corruption.

The report has clearly revealed that the Government of Malawi, through ADMARC, had categorically refused to give Transglobe a contract. Hon Chaponda who dealt directly with President Edgar C. Lungu advised Transglobe to deal with the Government of Republic of Zambia.

The key questions are: How could our government enter into a contract and issue a permit to Transglobe under the same Letter of Credit which was issued in favour of ZCF upon the letter of instruction of Kaloswe in line with the addendum which ushered into play the tripartite agreement from the very beginning?

UPP seriously urges President Edgar C. Lungu to take punitive actions against the Minister of Agriculture, officials in the ministry and ZCF and apologise to the people of Zambia for putting the whole nation into disrepute and grave embarrassment before the committee of nations.

President Edgar C. Lungu must also genuinely commit himself to the fight against corruption in his own administration, starting from State House through to all the ministries and public corporations.

Failure to take action in the next seven (7) days will leave UPP with no option, but to proceed to stage two of our action. Stage two involves petitioning the Chief Justice to set up the tribunal against all the ministers that have historically played a part in the maize saga.

Meanwhile, the President of UPP (undersigned) is proceeding with court action for libel against the following misguided entities that have over the past one month launched a scathing smear campaign which includes a lie that the UPP President is related to Mr. Isaac Kapambwe the director of Kaloswe:

1. Daily Nation Newspaper; and
2. Chilufya Tayali.

UPP has launched the #BringBackOurMoney! anti-corruption crusade aimed at recovering over US$5 billion in offshore accounts and investments of our former and current “leaders”. The people of Zambia are being subject to high taxes and other austere measures for the wrongs that were committed by the current regime. The PF regime is taxing Zambians to repay the loans which they contracted for plunder through projects that facilitated the loot.

The UPP leadership will not be intimidated by the Government through the scheme of using the ACC, ZP, DEC, ZRA and other wings through trumped up charges. We are fully aware of all the plots going.

We urge all Zambians to pray and fast as we fight the LORD’s battle who has heard the cries of the suffering of the masses at the hands of a corrupt regime.

God bless our nation!

Issued by Saviour Chishimba
UPP PRESIDENT